Why all the developer point whining?

[pinnocchiosdad]

I hear alot of complaining about developer points and many people have expressed their disappointments with them. I have used them twice with out problems. Both times I changed mt reservations without a problem. As long as you know the difference between developer and regular points, there should be no problems. I called member services, gave my member number and made a reservation. It was as simple as using regular points.

 

[Claire L]

We also had no problems with our developer points and have just finished using all 400 of them (got the double promotion last August). Got two trips out of them as well, 13 nights at SSR last October and 12 nights at AKV in May

Claire

 

[LIFERBABE]

Maybe all our "whining" helped afterall

It's nice to come along after the kinks have been worked out and wonder what the problem was in the first place.

 

[disneynutz]

I hear alot of complaining about developer points and many people have expressed their disappointments with them. I have used them twice with out problems. Both times I changed mt reservations without a problem. As long as you know the difference between developer and regular points, there should be no problems. I called member services, gave my member number and made a reservation. It was as simple as using regular points.

Count your blessings.

 

[kimberh]

Maybe MS finally understood how to use them. Congratulations to both of you for your success! I turned them down and took the cash discount.

 

[CarolA]

I hear alot of complaining about developer points and many people have expressed their disappointments with them. I have used them twice with out problems. Both times I changed mt reservations without a problem. As long as you know the difference between developer and regular points, there should be no problems. I called member services, gave my member number and made a reservation. It was as simple as using regular points.

Because whining is a top 10 activity on the boards...

Most folks for whom things go like you just don't bother to post.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Ummm... maybe it was me whining about not ever getting developer points.

 

[JimMIA]

There were a lot of legitimate difficulties early on, from what I've read. Most of the problems I heard about were caused by the guides not telling the purchasers about the limitations with the points, and also with some real issues in making and getting confirmation of ressies. It was hardly a seamless process at first -- but that's Disney!

Hopefully OP's experience shows that they've finally gotten their act together.

 

[Claire L]

There were a lot of legitimate difficulties early on, from what I've read. Most of the problems I heard about were caused by the guides not telling the purchasers about the limitations with the points, and also with some real issues in making and getting confirmation of ressies. It was hardly a seamless process at first -- but that's Disney!

Hopefully OP's experience shows that they've finally gotten their act together.

Our guide gave us spot on info re the developer points and we knew exactly what limitations we had and were happy with these. So glad we took the double incentive as we got 25 nights extra stay at WDW

Claire

 

[LIFERBABE]

For those of you who purchased later, I am glad the system improved for you. We added on AKV back in Feb 2007 and there was no info given from the guides about all the restrictions. MS could not locate the points because they were placed in a sub account. All transactions were performed manually and it took forever to get a confirmation. I used Dev. Points for a family reunion and they were a total PITA!!

Many of us did complain and the reps at MS were complaining more than the members so I am glad the whole fiasco was improved.

Instead of calling us whiners, you should thank those that went before you and complained so that you don't have to go through the same thing.

 

[JimMIA]

Instead of calling us whiners, you should thank those that went before you and complained so that you don't have to go through the same thing.

We didn't buy with developer points, so the problems didn't affect us.

However, one of the main things that gave the complaints credibility in my mind was the length of DIS membership and depth of experience of those who were complaining. If you stay here a few months, you can pretty much figure out who's a whiner and who isn't -- and the people I saw complaining (like LIFERBABE) were definitely not whiners.

Disney, and DVC, have some very strong points, but there are some significant weaknesses too. Implementation (of anything) and consistency are two of their BIG shortcomings. Noticing those inconsistencies, and pointing them out (both to Disney and fellow DISers) is not whining. It's part and parcel of being part of a community.

I'm certainly not saying I haven't noticed any whining here! I have, including one classic thread just in the last week or so. But the problems with developer points were a real problem, not a figment of someone's imagination.

Hopefully, they've gotten better and the one or two positive comments are not just anecdotal bright spots in a still-broken system.

 

[lin7]

We tried to use them with no problem, got the confirmation within a couple weeks,but we had to cancel our Christmas trip. Now we kind of wish we taken the credit though, as we won't be able to use them before it expires in September

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

We tried to use them with no problem, got the confirmation within a couple weeks,but we had to cancel our Christmas trip. Now we kind of wish we taken the credit though, as we won't be able to use them before it expires in September

Perhaps you could try and rent them and still get something?

We are a bright spot in using them as well. Booked a ressie yesterday and used up all the Dev. pts. without a problem. Actually, the CM said it was a code she hadn't seen before (from DL event and the only restriction on the points was no cruising) so she needed a supervisor, but I received a call back within 15 minutes that it was all done and our ressie is showing up on the DVC website today!

 

[lin7]

Perhaps you could try and rent them and still get something?

We are a bright spot in using them as well. Booked a ressie yesterday and used up all the Dev. pts. without a problem. Actually, the CM said it was a code she hadn't seen before (from DL event and the only restriction on the points was no cruising) so she needed a supervisor, but I received a call back within 15 minutes that it was all done and our ressie is showing up on the DVC website today!

I think it would be too late to rent them out now, and beside I never rented before and doubt people would rent from a first time renter and someone with developer points. I didn't know that developer point ressie show up on the DVC website, when I was doing mine they told me it wouldn't show up on the website, I guess it changed since last year.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think it would be too late to rent them out now, and beside I never rented before and doubt people would rent from a first time renter and someone with developer points. I didn't know that developer point ressie show up on the DVC website, when I was doing mine they told me it wouldn't show up on the website, I guess it changed since last year.

It seems like there are people looking for last minute rentals although it may take a bit more work. And to a renter it shouldn't make a differenece that they are Dev. pts - you just have to restrict where they can be used, correct? I say that you never know until you try. It's like our ressie we just made - I was pretty well convinced we couldn't get anything in Dec but decided I might as well check and I really had no problem. That all being said - I've never rented pts but it seems like there's lots of activity. And if you're not getting any interest b/c you haven't rented b4 someone might be interested at a lower price pt. Going rate seems to be $11-15 and I would think you'd have a good shot to get back the money you didn't take on the discount.

Just my thoughts......and sorry that you had to cancel your ressie!

 

[lin7]

Does the developer point ressie actually show up on the dvc website now?Thanks for the suggestion. I actually try to give them to friends and family and no one can actually take a vacation for different reasons.

I booked last year in September for December for AKV concierge and actually got it as well. I had to call everyday for 5 days and got the ressie for the whole week, I was sooo happy.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Does the developer point ressie actually show up on the dvc website now?Thanks for the suggestion. I actually try to give them to friends and family and no one can actually take a vacation for different reasons.

I booked last year in September for December for AKV concierge and actually got it as well. I had to call everyday for 5 days and got the ressie for the whole week, I was sooo happy.

Yep - our ressie is showing up. It's a split stay. 1/2 of it is being covered completely by Dev. Pts and the other 1/2 is partial Dev. Pts. and partial banked. Both are showing up. And before that our Dev. pts were showing in our total pts. It seems that they started appearing within the past month or two. When I booked it the CM told me it would be a few days until I saw anything - but there it was less than 24 hours later!

Wow - concierge! That was a great late ressie!!!!!